Thursday, October 31, 2013

I taught it to my boys while I made them some new treat bags for Halloween this year. I offered to buy them something to Trick-or-Treat with, but they wanted me to sew them something - they sure know their way to their Mama's heart :)

Monday, October 21, 2013

I used my AMH Innocent Crush fabrics for the exterior, so it matches my Triple Zip Pouch. I made this to be a matching set on purpose, but only now that it is dark and I am sitting down to my computer am I realizing that I didn't get a picture of the two together. {sigh}

You will just have to take my word for it that they make a cute couple :)

The pattern I used is one I have made several times, sometimes patchwork and sometimes with a solid exterior fabric. You can check out my other totes here, here, and here.

The lining is AMH feathers from Field Study - I am so in love with this print :)

I made the tote mostly to see how long it would take. That's a good reason, right? :)

Right about now, curiosity is getting the better of you, isn't it? You're dying to know. I can tell. ;)Okay, okay, I'll tell you - once the fabrics were cut, it took me six hours to completely finish the bag.

My seam ripper saw some action during the making of this bag. Silly me thought I didn't need to read the instructions because I've made this a time or two already. It is doubtful that I learned anything from this experience. {read instructions? and waste good sewing time?}

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Forget the pony rides at the fair, my boys rode the camel :) While they were enjoying the ride, I spotted this fantastic sign hanging on the fence:

it makes me chuckle every time I read it :)

ever since I tried chocolate covered bacon at the fair {heavenly!}, I have been wanting to bake brownies with bacon in them. Have you ever tried this?

Speaking of baking, I tried making pumpkin lasagna. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It kind of left me wanting it to be better, because you could tell it had the potential, know what I mean? Melting some butter onto the pumpkin layers when I reheated it helped, maybe that is all the original recipe is missing to be fantastic. {is there anything butter doesn't make better?} Not sure if I will try again to make it better, since I'm the only one in the house who will eat it.

Now that fall is here, have pumpkins invaded your kitchen, too? If you have any good pumpkin recipes, I'd love it if you share. I'm on the lookout for some new ones :)

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Most of the things I entered have been on the blog before: Rainbow Geese, Sashiko Pillow, Baby Hungry Caterpillar, and Improve Curves Table Runner all won blue {1st place} ribbons. The only needlecraft item I entered that hasn't been on the blog before is also somehow the only thing I didn't get a picture of. You'll just have to trust me that it also got a blue ribbon ;) {when I get it back I'll take pictures and post it properly. In the meantime, you can admire the pink tractor instead}

Underneath the red second place ribbon up there in the collage is a plate of pumpkin biscotti. Lesson learned - baking in the dark while trying a brand new recipe for a competition probably won't get you a blue ribbon, but the results are still good dipped in coffee. ;)

My boys brought home their fair share of ribbons, too. Son #1 earned a 2nd and 3rd for his photographs, son #2 earned a 1st for his pumpkin face and a 2nd for his snickerdoodle cookies, and son #3 earned a 1st for his pumpkin face and a 1st for his peanut butter cookies.

The four of us got our fried Oreo fix, and I found a new food love - chocolate covered bacon. Oh my, it was heavenly!